By: Max Morant (’23), Staff Writer
Slavery in America ended on June 19, 1865, but it took a hundred more years before Black Americans could truly improve our station in this country.
This opportunity came in the form of the hard-won Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). Passed the year after the Civil Rights Act, the VRA stood as a bastion against minority voters’ disenfranchisement in America—until it didn’t. While voter turnout has increased among Black Americans, local legislators across the country continue to marginalize minority voters since the Supreme Court case known as Shelby County v. Holder.
For those who don’t know, in 1965, the government deemed nine states and numerous counties (including forty in North Carolina) to have applied egregious voter suppression tactics to minimize the Black vote. The formula used to determine these jurisdictions included areas where a test or device was used as a prerequisite to registration and locations that saw less than 50 percent voter turnout in the 1964 presidential election. These states and counties, known as covered jurisdictions, must submit any voting law changes to the Department of Justice for approval; this is the process known as preclearance mentioned in section 5. Over the years, Congress periodically renewed the VRA’s special provisions and extended the coverage formula to include more jurisdictions.
In 2013, the Supreme Court effectively struck down these two major components of the Voting Rights Act. Shelby County v. Holder prompted the court to conclude that section 4(b), the coverage formula, was upheld by outdated data and presented an unjustified burden on specific states and districts. Nullifying section 4(b) meant no jurisdictions would be covered without a formula, essentially neutralizing section 5 in the process.
Without section 5, the Voting Rights Act becomes just that, an “act” that espouses a commitment to enfranchisement while allowing seemingly minor amendments to laws such as changing polling locations to continue disproportionately affecting minority communities—our communities.
Without giving the Shelby County ruling a chance to breathe, North Carolina Republicans were back to their old devices. House Bill 589, dubbed the “Voter Information Verification Act” and sometimes more accurately referred to as the “Monster Voter Suppression Act,” required voters to present photo ID at polls, shortened the early voting period by seven days, eliminated same-day and youth pre-registration among other amendments with overtly racist motivations. Fortunately, a federal appeals court struck down the Monster bill on July 29, 2016, rightly asserting that the law affected Black voters with “almost surgical precision.”
Despite that ruling, Republicans remain committed to preserving their supermajorities in North Carolina offices. During the 2017 session, they passed Senate Bill 325, which closes polls on the final Saturday before the election. The Saturday before the election is the most popular early voting day and largely utilized by Black people. Instead, those hours will be incorporated into weekdays, making early voting less accessible to minorities and the working class.[1] In addition to Senate Bill 325, House Bill 1092 is on the verge of passing. House Bill 1092 is a successor of sorts to the voter ID portion of the Monster law. This time, however, Republicans seek to add voter ID requirements to the North Carolina constitution itself. Amendments to the constitution require a ⅗ majority in both chambers and a majority of voters as well. While HB-1092 has already passed both chambers given the GOP supermajority, we have an indispensable opportunity to strike it down ourselves come November.
The Voting Rights Act was a significant step in the right direction. Still, the events outlined prove that we must continue applying pressure to persist in that direction. November 3 is the most anticipated day of the year, and the Republican party would have the Black community watch it unfold from the sidelines. We owe it to ourselves and those that came before not to let them get comfortable.
[1] The overlap and parallels in the struggle between racial minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status will be the topic of another piece.
Sources:
http://www.indivisible.org/resource/fight-voter-suppression-north-carolina
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/us/federal-appeals-court-strikes-down-north-carolina-voter-id-provision.html[1] [NA2]
